On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
We have Albatrossity Monday, with a special flamingo treat. Then we get to see Central Park after the deluge, plus 3 days in Iceland!
(click the schedule for a larger image)
Albatrossity
After a great day at Ramsey Canyon, I needed to head home, and I had a couple of long days of driving ahead of me. But there were some birds to see along the way!
One last hummingbird pic from Ramsey Canyon — a young male Broad-billed Hummingbird (Cynanthis latirostris) checking to see if I had any nectar hidden on my person. Click here for larger image.
The next morning I headed east, but not exactly on the most direct route. I wanted to go through the Chiricahua Mountains, and there are no paved road that one can follow for that quest. But Pinery Canyon Road (aka Forest Service Rd 42 in the Coronado National Forest) is a very scenic, albeit somewhat dusty, route to Portal AZ, Along the way I stopped and looked for another iconic SE Arizona species, the Painted Redstart (Myioborus pictus). It is always a treat to see one of these! Click here for larger image.
At the same stop I found a flock of young Yellow-eyed Juncos (Junco phaeonotus), accompanied by a couple of adults. Maybe it was a kindergarten field trip for them! The youngsters were of various ages, judging from the molt progression, and I had never seen young birds of this species before. So I spent some time with them. Here is a very young bird, with fine streaking on the head and breast, as well as the yellow “baby lips” displayed by many young passerine birds. The iris color was pale, but not yellow yet. Click here for larger image.
A portrait shot of the same young Yellow-eyed Junco. Click here for larger image.
Here is a slightly older bird, which is starting to lose the streakiness on the underside. The iris is quite yellow in this one. Click here for larger image.
Finally, here is a junco that is just about in full adult plumage. The underside is mostly the clear gray adult version with no streaking, but there are still some blotches there. And the iris is bright yellow! Click here for larger image.
I spent the night in Lordsburg NM, an unprepossessing town in SW New Mexico, and headed east bright an early the next morning. Most of the day was spent on interstate highways, with no good opportunities for birding. But the 60+ miles of highway between Nara Visa and Clayton NM, in far eastern New Mexico, was quite rewarding. The Llano Estacado (Staked Plains, aka Horizontal Yellow) is a great place to find raptors, and I saw this Ferruginous Hawk (Buteo regalis), along with about a dozen more in that stretch of highway. Click here for larger image.
The real raptor treat, however, was an adult Prairie Falcon (Falco mexicanus). This open country predator must feel right at home in those wide-open spaces. Click here for larger image.
The last day of driving was uneventful and unphotographed by me. So these eight are the last pics from this trip. But since I can upload ten pics, I decided to include another bird that came to Kansas in the last week of September. Hurricane Idalia moved across the Gulf of Mexico in a direction and timeframe that coincided with flights of American Flamingos (Phoenicopterus ruber) between Yucatan and Cuba, and blew those pink birds north. They were reported from as far north as Virginia and Maryland on the east coast, and from Ohio, Wisconsin, Kentucky and Kansas in the interior. This one has been present for a week or more about 80 south of where I live, so I (and my son and daughter-in-law) went down to see it. It is only the third record for this species in the state, and the first since 1972. Click here for larger image.
Portrait of a Kansas Flamingo. Click here for larger image.
Betty Cracker
Beautiful photos as always! I especially love that hummie up top!
I get the Florida rare bird alert email daily from Cornell, and there continue to be verified flamingo sightings all over Florida, from the Keys to the Panhandle. I saw one in Cedar Key from a distance just over a week ago.
Poor Cedar Key is still in pretty bad shape but recovering. I talked to a local couple who walked over to the shoreline to gawk at the flamingo too, and they said they’d seen a lot of unfamiliar birds in the area besides the flamingos, but the man remarked that many birds they’re used to seeing haven’t been around since Idalia. “I hope they are safe,” he said. Me too.
SiubhanDuinne
Great birb photos, as always. I love the ones of the young junco.
frosty
Farther than Virginia and Maryland! We had two flamingos near Chambersburg, PA (south central) in September. I’m still kicking myself for not getting in the car and driving 65 miles to see them. It might’ve been my only chance! I was in Flamingo Bay in the Everglades a couple of years ago, but no flamingos.
Must’ve been a heck of a wind to blow them that far off course.
PS Since I woke up at 5:45 I’ll be off shortly with my binoculars and camera to see what’s out there locally. My sleep pattern has shifted weirdly but at least I have something to do now when I’m up before dawn.
PPS Good to hear Cedar Key is coming back, BC.
Rob
Those are amazing photos. I also like the young junco photos, and the Painted Redstart looks like it’s giving side eye.
In early September there were two flamingos a few miles west of Chambersburg. I drove up there from just outside DC and saw them, calmly standing in a pond not too far from the road.
Rob
@frosty: On my way back to DC from seeing the flamingos I was caught in very heavy rain and pulled off the interstate northwest of Frederick, Maryland, for at least half an hour. I am so glad I went to see them, and I’m sorry you didn’t go.
OzarkHillbilly
Thanx for the pics and the ornithology lesson.
frosty
@Rob: I learned my lesson. A Swainson’s Hawk, typically a western bird, settled down in a barnyard north of Harrisburg. I drove the 90 miles to see that one. The property owner welcomed all the weird people coming to visit and put out a sign-in book for us.
SteveinPHX
This is a wonderful thing to look forward to on Mondays. Thank you!
Rob
@frosty: I’m glad you got to see the Swainson’s Hawk. If I’d known about it I might maybe have gone to look for it. I have seen that species before, but not for a few years, while the flamingo was a bird I never expected to see.
Did you go look for the Limpkin that was near Pennyfield Lock along the C&O Canal in August and September?
Torrey
Incredible pictures! I’ve seen less impressive shots from professional photographers working with professional actors and models. The young yellow-eyed Junco looks for all the world like he’s posing for his headshot.
Birds with coffee: I love starting my mornings that way. Thank you and thank WaterGirl for making it happen.
Xavier
One of Portal, AZ’s claims to fame is that Vladimir Nabokov wrote parts of “Lolita” while studying butterflies in the Chiricahua mountains. If the few inhabitants of Portal knew that, they probably wouldn’t be inclined to boast about it.
WaterGirl
The first 5 birds seem particularly good-looking this morning. And of course I 💕 the flamingo!
cope
Absolutely compelling photos, thanks. However do you get the birds to pose so perfectly? The hummer in mid hover, the sleepy-eyed Redstart and the preening flamingo really seem to have been ready for their close-ups.
StringOnAStick
The Prairie falcon must have just eaten judging from the color on it’s talons.
frosty
@Rob: Nope, I didn’t hear about it. I didn’t go after the limpkin at Middle Creek near Lancaster either. I’ve seen them before in Florida.
Chris T.
@cope:
If it’s anything like my own wildlife photo attempts, one of the keys is to take 100 pictures and keep just one. 🤪
Rob
@frosty: Bummer. It’s gone now. I almost went to see the Lancaster County bird in ?July but getting away was really hard. I had seen Limpkin once before, in Washington County Maryland (!) in 2021. My wife has seen them in Florida but I was never so lucky.
Albatrossity
@Rob: Currently the Flamingo is still in Kansas at Chase State Fishing Lake, and there are at least two Limpkins in the state as well. Strange times!
@Chris T.: Yep, that’s the key. Take lots of pics; pixels are cheap!
Rob
@Albatrossity: I know it is! I look at the Chase County Kansas eBird rare bird alert every day because of the flamingo. You took a very nice photo of it. Two flamingos were sighted in southern Maryland west of the Chesapeake Bay by two lucky people roughly a week or ten days ago; they took off and as far I know haven’t been resighted.
And, all these Limpkins are just crazy. It’s actually almost strange that Maryland only had 1 this year. (I know, it’s a small state, but still, it’s closer to their normal range in Florida than Kansas is.)
Yutsano
Hopefully the flamingo makes it back to warmer temperatures before the Plains start getting really frigid! I haven’t heard if they survive in cold weather well or not. Still such a wonderful sight!
Albatrossity
@Yutsano: It seems to have left this afternoon, according to the Kansas Birding Facebook page reports. Hopefully it finds a good home down South.
Rob
@Albatrossity: If this is the same bird as the Ohio and Missouri bird, which would have flown west since it was found in Ohio a few weeks ago, let’s hope that it flew south and not further west
Albatrossity
@Rob: Well, if it was the Smithville Lake bird, it had to fly in a somewhat southerly direction to get to Chase County. And we’ve had light northerly winds for the past few days
pieceofpeace
I don’t know what to say. You capture these so well and leave me drenched in delight – thanks!